Benchmarking crime data for global cities

Matt Ashby, Michèle Grace Bal, Gonzalo Croci, Ashly Fuller, Nicole Mantl and Lee Youngsub

How does the rate of burglaries in London compare to the rate in Rome or Osaka?

Can we use the International Crime Victims Survey?

📚 not updated since 2010

❌ no city-level data

💰 would be expensive to re-run

Can we use health data?

❓ only covers violent crime

🔒 rarely publicly available

🗄️ not designed for measuring crime

👉 use police-recorded crime data/statistics

Problem 1: translation

🇪🇸 “robos con violencia en establecimientos” = “business robbery”

🇪🇸 “robos con fuerza en viviendas” = “residential burglary”

👉 translation by someone who understands crime data

Problem 2: what is this type of crime categorised as?

A person smashes the window on a parked car and removes money from the glove box, intending to spend the money on drugs and without the permission of the vehicle owner.

🌏 theft from a motor vehicle

🏄 auto burglary

👉 produce harmonised categories from published data

personal robbery	business robbery
robbery, ATM location robbery, bicycle robbery, car jacking robbery, clothing robbery, delivery person robbery, dwelling robbery, home invasion robbery, licensed for hire vehicle robbery, licensed medallion cab robbery, neckchain/jewelry robbery, open area unclassified robbery, personal electronic device …	robbery, chain store robbery, payroll robbery, bank robbery, bar/restaurant robbery, begin as shoplifting robbery, bodega/convenience store robbery, check cashing business robbery, commercial unclassified robbery, gas station robbery, pharmacy